


Skyping

by PlanetXiomara



Category: Coco2017
Genre: Everyone loves baby Coco, F/M, Hector can't stop being a dad, Imelda is abuelita, Miguel is the best big brother
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-20
Updated: 2018-04-15
Packaged: 2019-03-21 07:43:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 8,748
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13736313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PlanetXiomara/pseuds/PlanetXiomara
Summary: With the help of technology, Miguel finds new ways to talk to his family without cureses or consequences.Well...maybe a few consequences.





	1. Setting up

Héctor listened on the phone to Miguel, while the rest of the family gathered around the blinking box.

“Okay Papa Héctor, you just move the arrow to the picture of the blue S and then click on it.”

Héctor stared at the screen, and moved is finger across the pad. To his surprise, the arrow on the screen moved with it, and the rest of the family stared in awe.

“Oh my.” Rosita spoke softly.

“I’m telling you," Felipe points "it’s they same technology they use when we cross the bridge!”

“No hermano.” Oscar says. “That’s much different than this.”

“It is not.”

“Is is too.”

“Is is not.”

“Okay chamaco.” Héctor interrupts “What’s next?”

“Click on it twice, I mean, press the button on the bottom of the pad, the left one, press it twice. ”

“Do that on the picture?”

“Si Papa.”

He glances down at the pad. Two buttons lay behind his fingers.

“My left or your left?”

“Huh? Oh-your left.”

Taking a chance, he clicks on it, and the bright screen changes.

He briefly stares.

Miguel leads him through a serious of instructions before finally the screen changes, and this time he can see himself and his family in a tiny box in the corner.

Miguel’s face pops up on the rest of the screen, and the family cheers at the victory.

“Papa Héctor! Can you see me?”

“Si chamaco!”

Héctor laughs as Miguel cheers.

“This is great! Now I can talk to you guys all the time!”’

“Si! But not after bedtime, and not while we’re at work okay mijo?”

Miguel nods eagerly. “Okay Papa Héctor I won’t! I promise!-oh wait!”

The boy sprints away from the computer, and before Hector can speak, Miguel comes back with his baby sister in his arms and announces: “Baby Coco wants to say hello!" The boy lifts up his baby sister and waves one of her chubby arms hello, making Coco giggle and his entire deceased family _aww_ in unison.

 “I remember when Rosita was little,” Julio chuckled. “I used to do the same thing.”

The ever adorable Migue gives a big toothy smile. “I’m a great big brother! Just like you Papa Julio!”

“ _Weeell_..” Rosita draws. “I wouldn’t say great...remember that time he got paint all over my dresses?”

“Oh!” Felipe adds. “And the time he lost all of your left shoes-“

-“and” Oscar continues. “Had to make new ones?”

“Fine.” Julio grumbles. “Two things.”

Coco smirks. “Didn’t you once push Rosita into a lake?”

Upon hearing this, Héctor stares curiously at his son-in-law, who was now glaring at Coco for the comment. “You pushed your sister into a lake?”

“I remember.” Victoria nods, a faint smile on her face. “He tried to take me and Elena fishing, but he got all tangled up in the wires and pushed Tía Rosita off the boat.”

“Do you at least catch a fish?”

“He didn’t!” Rosita pouts. “And I got all wet for nothing.”

“ _Mijo_!”

A sound comes from the blinking box, and Miguel’s head whips around at the voice.

_“Come down! It’s time for dinner!”_

“Coming Mama!”

Miguel smiles at them and leans his face close to the screen, whispering, “Sorry guys, gotta go!”

Imelda smiles warmly. “We will talk soon mijo. Remember, we all love you."

Héctor blinks at his wife. “When did you get here?”

“Adiós mijo!” Rosita giggles.

Coco waves. “Take good care of your little sister Miguel.”

“Okay!” Miguel waves back. “Adios you guys! Te amo Papá Héctor! Te amo Mamá Imelda! Te amo Mamá Coco! Te a-“

“ _Miguel_!” Elena calls. “ _Come_ _eat_ _with_ _your_ _family_!”

“Abuelita I-“

_“Don’t make me take of my shoe!”_

Miguel cringes, quickly whispering “Bye!” and clicking some kind of key to make the screen go black.

Héctor guesses this means the end of call, so he turns back to his wife. “Really Imelda when did you get here?”

“I was here the whole time, but I stood by the door.”

“What? Why?”

Imelda scowls at the laptop. “I don’t trust that Devil Box."

Hector knows better than to ask.


	2. Spitting Image

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Imelda and Héctor are the spitting image of a perfect pair of grandparents. 
> 
> Kinda

Héctor plays his guitar with such excitement and gusto, Imelda finds it hard to believe the man in front of her was even dead.

“ _You make me un poco loco! Un poquitito loco! Estoy adivinando!”_

Baby Coco sits on the other end of the screen, laughing and clapping to the song.

“ _Qué quieres y pa' cuándo, y así estoy celebrando! Que me he vuelto, un poco loco!”_

Imelda watches as the little baby gurgles out her own lyrics, and reaches her chubby hands out for her great-great grandpa.

“ _Chiflado tú me vuelves, eso estás un poco loco! Tu mente que despega_ -eh-ey! Mira Imelda!”

He points to little girl, who was now fervently babbling to the song.

“She’s singing! Imelda she’s singing with me!”

Coco gives a big smile, proudly showing of her only two front teeth, and babbles, “Lolo! Lolo-Lolo!”

Héctor beams at the little girl, and the room radiates with his joy and love for his granddaughter.

“Lo-lo!” Coco says. “Lololo-“

“That’s my girl!” Héctor proudly declares, before turning to his wife and grinning. “What did I say Imelda? She was born a musician!”

She hums. “She’s your granddaughter.”

“You bet!” He smiles, before turning to his granddaughter and cooing. “Aren’t you? Aren't you my little preciosa, angelita, querida, cielito linda-“

Imedla glances over to little Socorro on the screen, who now was gurgling happily at Héctor with her pudgy fingers in her mouth.

And at that moment, she wants nothing more than to reach in and kiss every inch of her granddaughters chubby little face.

“Aw” Hector sighs affectionately. “She’s real cute isn’t she honey?”

Imelda smiles. “Si, she is.”

“Heh...she looks a lot like Coco.”

“Oh she does,” Imelda nods. “A spitting image,”

Coco takes one saliva covered hand out her mouth and reaches it towards her husband, who smiles warmly and touches his own hand to the screen.

He sighs wistfully, and whispers. “Papa loves you, mi querida.”

And Imelda gently takes his hand, and he gently wraps an arm around her waist to pull her closer and-

“Hey guys!”

Miguel jogs into the room, back from his bathroom break. He kisses his little sister, and gives them a big smile hello.

“Hey Papa Héctor! Hey Mamá Imel-“

His face scrunches up at them, seeing the two of them huddled together in a hug. “Were you guys..” his eyes dart between the two of them. “Kissing?”

Héctor shrugs playfully. “Maybe?”

“Yuck!”

“Oh?” Imelda raises an ridge. “Love is yucky then?”

“No, I-just kissing is!”

“Mmh.” She hums, lifting up her husband’s chin with her boney fingers. Héctor smiles, and he just looks so handsome, she knows he’s the same man that she danced and fell in love with over one hundred years ago.

They lean in and deeply kiss each other, ignoring Miguel’s cries of “eww!” and “that’s gross you guys stop it!”

And if she could, Imelda would kiss that skeleton of husband for a hundred years more.

-

The next time Miguel calls, he has a big shiny black eye, a swollen cheek, and is missing a tooth.

He excitedly tells them his circumstances, saying he had been at a fútbol game, and “guess what, guess what! They hit the ball to me and I caught it! I caught the ball!”

Imelda screams. “With your face?!”

“Si!” Miguel nods, grinning. “And guess what? They let me keep the ball! And the players signed my ice pack!”

Julio is curious. “Did you ever find your tooth?”

“Nope!”

“You lost it?!” Imelda huffs and throws her hands up in the air. “Ay Dios Míos está niño is going to be the death of me!”

“Uh...you’re already dead-”

“It’s an expression!”

Héctor chuckles. This kid, his great-great grandson, is exactly like he was at that age.

“Oh! And guess what? I can have a gold tooth! Just like papa Hector!”

“That is not an accomplishment!”

Héctor snorts, shaking his head. “Aye chamaco. I think you’re too much like me already.”

Miguel looks hopeful. “Really?”

“Oh it’s true.” Imelda glares the boy. “He’s a spitting image.”

Miguel beams at the statement.

“Awesome!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for all the positive replies you guys!


	3. Everyone knows Juanita

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miguel has a secret crush. 
> 
> And by secret he means literally everyone knows about it.

“So then-so then-“

Miguel practically bounced in his chair, telling his deceased family his stories. Papa Héctor once had said that they wanted hear all about his life in the living world, so Miguel made sure to call them almost every day and tell them all about it.

Which was nice, because after Mamá Coco had died, he really needed someone to talk to.

“So then Roberto poured his whole beaker into the other one! And I thought it was gonna blow up but it didn’t and my teacher-

“Eh chamaco? I think you-“

“Oh wait wait this is the best part! So then my teacher came over and she told him-“

“Chamaco-“

“And she told him, “Roberto! How many times I’ve I told you not to mix those two?” And then do you know what Roberto said?”

“Chamaco!”

“No he didn’t say that he said-“

He glanced up, and to his surprise, saw his entire family staring back at him with nervous faces.

And it took a second for him to realize that they weren’t staring at him, but behind him, and when he turns around there’s Rosa standing in the doorway with her arms crossed in an annoyed manner.

“You’re really loud you know that?”

“ _Prima Rosa!_ ”

He panics, slamming the laptop cover down and giving his cousin a huge nervous smile that makes her raise an eye brow in suspicion.

“Hey! What-uh, what are you doing in my room?”

She ignores the question. “Who are you talking to?”

“Uh-“

Abel pops his head into his room, (something Miguel had asked him a hundred times not to do), and gives Miguel a big grin. “I bet he was talking to his girrrrlfriend.”

“No I wasn’t!” Miguel squeaks defensively, through with how high his voice suddenly is he guesses he’s not all that convincing, and both Abel and Rosa just grin wider.

Cousins. Why do they always have to make life so difficult?

Abel laughs. “I knew it! He’s just talking to Juanita!”

“But I don’t like Juanita!”

Rosa smirks and rolls her eyes. “Suuure you don’t,” She drawls sarcastically. “and Abel here is a genius.”

“Yeah!” Abel smugly agrees with his sister, not finding the double insult in her sentence.

Usually, Abel and Rosa didn’t get along very much, but they always seemed to bond over the common interest of making his life miserable.

“Haha! I bet he-I bet he gives her like... love letters and stuff.”

Rosa giggles. “He probably sings her love songs.”

“Yeah!”

And with Prima Rosa as the brains, and Primo Abel as the brawn, the two siblings could run him into the ground if they wanted to.

“Does Abuelita know about your little crush Miguel?”

Miguel panics. “You wouldn’t!”

Rosita rolls her eyes again. “Relax gordito, no one’s telling.”

“Yeah!” Abel nods. “We don’t snitch!”

Miguel lets out a breath of relief. If Abuelita were to find about his secret crush, well, he doesn’t want to think about it.

Besides, Abel was lucky, since he had some new girl every week, Abuelita had all but given up given up on interrogating them. But Miguel? He was her baby, and he’s sure she would keep him away from all girls if she could.

“Imagine if she did find out?” Rosita giggles. “She’d go crazy!”.

Abel bursts into laughter, and Miguel can’t help but follow the suit. It’s true, Abuelita _would_ go crazy. Just thinking about it makes him laugh even harder.

“Remember-“ Abel manages in between fits of laughter. “When I first brought home Anita? Oh man. She-she interrogated her for a week! And didn’t stop doing that until I brought home Isabel!”

“Si!” Rosita nods, laughing. “She did! That’s why I’m never telling about Esteban!”

Abel’s laughter immediately dies, and his face twits into one of confusion. “You-“ he turns to his sister. “Dated Esteban?”

“Abel.” Rosa rolls her eyes. “I didn’t date Esteban.”

“Oh.”

“I _am_ dating Esteban.”

“What?!” Abel gives his sister a look of disbelief. “Since when?”

“Since you were dating Maria.”

Miguel, sensing the upcoming argument, quickly pushes the two out the door once their focus is no longer on him. “Okay you guys! Nice having you, bye!”

“Since I was dating which Maria?!”

“Sanchez!”

“Half the girls in this town are named Sanchez!”

“Well it wouldn’t be a problem if you didn’t date half the girls in this town!”

“And that would be a problem if this town didn’t only have like...ten girls!”

Miguel quickly shuts the door, hearing the muffled sounds of his cousin’s arguments. He also made a mental note to eavesdrop on that conversation later, as sometimes his family drama was better than a Telenovela.

He made a second mental note to warn Estaban about staying away from Abel for a while.

“Sorry guys.” Miguel says as he jogs back to his laptop and opens it up. “Sometimes those two just come into my room and-“

He stops, seeing the entire ensemble of dead relatives smiling at him with huge grins on their faces. He felts a bit a bit taken back by their expressions, until he realizes _oh dios they heard his entire conversation._

Papa Hector grins at him, and Miguel wants to crawl into a hole when he asks:

“So chamaco, who's Juanita?”

Miguel groans. _Family_.

Why do they always make things so difficult?


	4. Cursed blessings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hector is the happiest he's been in decades.
> 
> Miguel...not so much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is a bit different. So, I hope it works out okay.

Héctor strolled down the street with Coco, holding her hand in his tightly. Sure, his daughter was around 70 years older than he was, but she had only been in the land of the dead for two years! _And_ , if you counted all the years after his death, him, and many other people in the land of the dead, were well over one-hundred and ten years old! So, when you went and looked at it that way, his daughter was really still a baby in comparison, and therefore needed someone to hold her hand while walking down the street.

"Papa, did you remember the charger?"

"Si!" He fishes through his shopping bag, and proudly pulls out the long chord. Really, he's not sure what a charger is or what is does, but Victoria had told him is was necessary for the special box they used to see Miguel. "I hope I got the right one, there was a hundred of them in that store!"

"Oh yes." Coco nods. "Computers are very popular now at days."

Héctor shrugs. "I guess people like that sort of thing."

Computers (was that what they were called?) did do nice things, but Héctor never did quite understand the public's fascination with them. At least, not until he used one to talk to Miguel. That was a neat trick. He decided someone should invent a smaller box, preferably pocket sized, that you could use to talk to people any time. Now that would be helpful.

"Papa?"

"Si, mi princessa?"

She briefly smiles at the nickname, seeming a bit amused by it. "Do you think, we can stop and get a book, for Victoria?

"Of course!" He smiles wide at the thought of his granddaughter. "And we can buy her two! As a surprise! She'll be expecting the first but not the second!"

Coco laughs, and after all this time he still can't believe he went nearly a hundred years without hearing that laugh.

(It had actually been 98 years, six months, five days, and eight hours but that's beside the point.)

She smiles, and lovingly pats his hand. "You are very kind Papa."

"Aww." He bats a hand at her. "You know me, just looking out for my- _Aye_!" He shouts in a panic. " _Cuidado_!"

Coco stops suddenly, glancing around for the danger. "What? Where? Que paso?"

Héctor waits on the corner until the little box shows the picture of the walking skeleton that means "okay to cross", before gently tugging his daughter's arm to walk forward. "You must be careful mija! Always look both ways before crossing the street."

Coco gives him a confused look. "That is what you yelled about?"

"Si! Traffic safety is no joke!"

She stares at him for a few moments before she suddenly laughs, shaking her head. "Papa!" She chides him. "I may be old, but I can still cross the street!"

"You're not that old." He tells her quickly, because she's not. 99 is quite young in his opinion.

"I am." She says, and he tries to retort, but his heart practically skips a beat when she smiles up at him and theres nothing but pure love and admiration in her eyes, giving him the most warm and loving and watery-eyed smile he's ever seen someone give. "But you make me feel young again."

And he sniffs (not because he's fighting back tears it's because of his allergies that he suddenly has) and he grips his daughter's hand so tight that not even death could separate their hold. And when she lightly swings his arm forward as she walks, he can still see her as that little three year old girl he left behind, with pink ribbons in her hair, and shoes that fit in the palm of his hand, that liked to sing and swung his arm back and forth while they walked.

Sure, he may have lost nearly a hundred years of her life that he'll never get back.

But he's more than willing to be with her for a hundred years more.

 

-

The book Victoria wants is titled, " _Technology Explained: Computers_ ", which turns out to be quite helpful.

With the book, and Victoria's help, he learns all kind of the things about the "lap-top". But the best thing he learns is that, if you press all the right buttons, the laptop shows you photos!

Miguel sends them with "e-mail", and a bunch of other technology terms that he doesn't understand. But somehow, Victoria leans how to take the photos off the laptop, and then gives them to him!

"Oh you are so smart!" He tells her. "That's my granddaughter!" 

Victoria smirks triumphantly. "There's nothing a good book can't teach." 

"Really? Heh. Maybe I should read one of those."

He's joking of course, (more or less)  but then Victoria, the ever serious Victoria, actually genuinely _smiles_ at him, and for a moment his heart aches from how much he loves her. Her and her mother. 

 "I can help with that," she smiles. "would you like to read one? Together?"

"Yes!" He eagerly tells her. "I'd love too!"

And since his wife and family died at elderly ages, the nights are filled with him and Victoria, huddled together on a chair, reading whatever books she picked out while the rest of the family sleeps. There are some nights where she teaches him all about the "lap-top", and there are some nights where they rest in the garden and watch the stars. 

"Abuelo." 

She says one night, so sleepy that her head rests on his shoulder. 

"Hmm?"

He hums, and for the first time his own granddaughter, in just the softest sweetest voice, says "I love you." 

He kisses her forehead, tears burning in his eyes, and ensures her he loves her too. (So much)

And he doesn't quite notice the soft orange glow emitted from the blinking box behind him. 

-

Miguel nervously looked over his laptop, thinking about how he really should have thought this through. He knew constant communication with the dead had its effects but, he never guessed they could be _this _strong.__

Looking through his laptop, he realized a while ago there had been new pictures of Imelda and Hector that had never been taken, and now, there were pictures of a younger Coco still clad in diapers.

The laptop didn't just hold files anymore, it was holding memories.

Miguel groaned. Mama Imedla was gonna kill him for keeping this secret for so long. But how was he supposed to explain to his family that he somehow managed to get a laptop cursed?

 He just couldn't let his family know. If they did, they would stop talking to him on Skype, and he needed those talks! He needed to find a way to get his laptop un-cursed, without letting his family know about it.

 He only hoped their laptop wasn't acting out either.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My headcannon in that Héctor is an protective dad. Not just to Coco but to everyone cause tbh Héctor is everyone's dad.


	5. Love is Blind

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miguel goes a bit overboard while impressing his crush.

Miguel bounced eagerly in his chair. His eyes flickering every now and then towards the door. He knew he was being obvious but he just couldn’t help it, Juanita was gonna be here any minute! And he was gonna do everything Papa Héctor taught him.

“ _Remember chamaco._ ” Papa Héctor’s voice ran in his head. “ _You gotta be cool and classy, ladies like classy-“_

“ _You idiot what on earth are you teaching him? ”_

“ _I’m mentoring Imelda don’t question my genius.”_

Miguel dwelled on the words until he felt his phone vibrate, and when he checked, his heart skipped a beat at the text: **Be there in five!** , from Juanita.

Five minutes! He bounced even quicker. She was gonna be here in five minutes!

His father walked by, “Hola mijo!” and playfully ruffled his hair, causing Miguel to quickly slap his hand away and whine. “Papa nooo! Don’t touch it!”

Papa gave him a strange look.

“I need to look guapo!” He whined, and frantically fixed his hair back to its previous state. “So don’t touch it.”

Papa lifted up his hand to his face, and his nose scrunched up as he examined it. “Mijo is this gel?”

Miguel wants to answer, but suddenly there’s a knock at the door, and the next moment he’s rushing over to his Papa and frantically pushing him out the room. “Go! Go! Rapido Papa!”

“What? Hey! Miguel!”

Miguel ignores his cries, and once Papa is out the room, he rushes to greet the girl at the door.  
-

Enrique wasn’t quite sure what had gotten into his son, but he supposed whatever it was, it had something to do with the friend he was inviting over. This time, he hoped it wasn’t some fully grown mariachi Miguel met playing in the plaza. He was happy Miguel was making friends but he more or less prefered someone who was a little closer to his son in age.

He sighed on his work bench, setting down the shoe he was fixing. Miguel had been such a bright and happy child, it was a mystery why he didn’t have many friends at school.

“You like guitars? I like guitars too!”

Miguel’s happy voice sounds from the living room, and Enrique can’t help himself from peaking inside for just a moment to see how his son is fairing.

There, on the couch is Miguel, and sitting next to him was a young girl whoes hand, much to Enrique’s surprise, is intertwined with Miguel’s. He had no idea his son was even interested in girls, much less holding their hands.

The girl is smiling wide, with shiny metal braces fixed on her teeth and two thick braids adorned with ribbons framing the sides of her face. She wears a bright yellow dress stitched with bows, and her shoes, he notices, with a hint of pride, are finely made Rivera shoes.

It’s obvious that this girl is of a much higher class then Miguel’s usual friends, but he also notices that this girl has some sort of... strangeness about her.

When Miguel chatters her ears of, the girl hardly looks in his direction, and when he shoves a guitar in her lap, the girl hardly moves.

”This guitar was my Papa Héctor’s.” Miguel says, and gently takes her hand to feel over the guitar. “It’s really special.”

The girl, guided by Miguel’s hands, feels over it with interest. And when her fingers brush over the strings, she pauses at the sound it makes. Seeming interested, she repeats the action, brushing the tips of her fingers over the strings of the guitar.

Miguel seems happy with the girls interest. “Wanna play a chord?”

She nods, and Enrique wonders if the girl even speaks.

Miguel takes her fingers and eagerly adjusts them on the strings of the neck of the guitar, while the girl sits and stares forward with a vacant expression. “See?” Miguel says. “Your index finger goes here-” he gently moves her finger to the first string. “And then your middle finger can go on this string-”

For a moment, Enrique wonders if the girl is just staring out the window, because for the life of him he can’t decide what’s she’s looking at. And while it takes a while for all the pieces to come together, after a short moment everything clicks and he realizes the girl isn’t staring at anything.

She couldn’t stare at anything.

The poor girl had no eyesight.

“And then, you can start strumming! Go on Juanita!”

The girl’s face scrunches in concentration, and she harshly strums the chords on the guitar, letting the noises vibrate through the room. Miguel cheers along, and when shes done he proudly flings his arms around his best friend and yells. “You did it!”

Juanita smiles brightly at the contact, her cheeks flushing a bright shade of pink.

It’s sweet, and Enrique’s feels his heart soften at the display of affection. He decides that one of these days, he was going to invite the young girl to dinner.

-

“Okay.” Miguel opened up the laptop, setting it in front of him and Juanita. ”What I’m about show you, is super important and super secret. You can’t tell anyone okay?”

Junita nodded, and made a little motion of ‘zipping’ her lips shut and throwing away the key, making Miguel smile. She was even funny without words and Papa Héctor would just love her, he knew it!

“Can you see light?” He asked, and Juanita nodded again.

“Good.” Miguel smiled, before leaning in and whispering eagerly. “What’s something you’ve always wanted to see?”

Juanita wasn’t very good with expressions, (Miguel guessed she had never seen them) but she seemed to be thinking deeply about it. Noting her discomfort, he pushed the device closer to her. “Do you wanna write it Juanita? Here use my laptop.”

Her hands moved to the keyboard, feeling over each individual key. When she found the keys she was looking for she typed, “ **I want to know what a sunset looks like. The ones with lots of colors.”**

Miguel felt his heart leap at the suggestion, he had the perfect memory for that! ”That’s perfect!” He cheered.

“ **It’s is?** ”

”Of course it is!” He grinned. “It great!”

Junita smiled.

”Okay Juanita.” Miguel eagerly but gently took her hand, placing it on the laptop. “Think of the prettiest sunset you can.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before I get people asking, “how did Juanita text if she’s blind?”, I would like to say that blind people can text and type normally. There are special features on IPhone specifically for that function, and many blind people take typing classes specifically for memorizing key boards.


	6. Sunrise, Sunset

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Miguel wooes Juanita with the best memory he can think of.

Junita can see lights, despite the limitations of her eyesight. Fireworks, lightbulbs, and bright neon were all visible in her world of darkness.

Miguel had promised, from the moment he learned of her blindness that he would spend his days filling her lonely world with as much color as he possible could. And he did, with every stum of his guitar her world got brighter, and every time he held her hand, she saw could see his smile light up like a lightbulb.

The truth was, she didn’t need someone to constantly hold her hand, but Miguel didn’t know that, and she liked having him close beside her, and she liked to feel the warmth of his hands in her own, even when he got all sweaty.

But now, there was a strange feeling of seeing something other than light, something more.

“Imelda! Slow down!”

There were voices. Where was she? Where was Miguel?

“What?” A woman laughs. “And miss it?”

”But I’m not build for physical activity!”

Whoever they are, they are close by where she is.

There’s suddenly grass beneath her feet, and the wind is suddenly blowing. She clicks her tongue and waits for the sound to bounce. There’s nothing in front of her, and for whatever reason she’s on some sort of hill, with people climbing on the side of it. Was this the magic Miguel spoke of? Would he really help her see?

The idea of finally seeing makes her heart pound, and she spins around for Miguel, reaching her arms out for him. She wants to see, she wants to know what he looks like.

“Héctor! You are a turtle!”

”I’ll have you know Señora Garcia said I was a handsome fox!“

”With that nose? I’d say you were a toucan.”

The man huffs, “Well this nose can sniff out lies Imelda! I know you find me incredibly attractive!”

Whoever these people are, they must be some sort of couple.

“You loco. You’re going to miss the sunset!”

Juanita felt her heart leap. Sunset! It was Miguel’s magic!

But where was he?

”Juanita!”

A high voice brings her out of her thoughts, Miguel! She runs towards him with her arms wide, her heart pounding heavily in her chest. The magic worked! And it brought him! When she’s leaps at him he catches her in his arms and she grips Miguel’s sweater to pull him closer, their hug becoming tighter with each pull.

And Juanita feels safe in his arms.

-

Héctor panted, following Imelda up the steep hill. This woman, she was trying to kill him!

”Imedla!” He begs. “Slow down!”

Imedla is already half way up the hill, and she turns back to look at him with a smile. “What? And miss it?”

He bends over and holds his knees, tying to catch his breath. “I’m not built for physical activity!” he groans, and Imelda laughs.

Because she insists on making him miserable, she taunts him the rest of the way up the hill, until he finally crawls his way to the top and collapses on the grass, making Imelda double over in laughter. “It’s not even that far!”

”Shut up Imelda.” He whines. “I’m fragile!”

Imelda giggles, and sits herself down on the floor, her dress fluttering down with her. And since he’s too lazy to stand up, he rolls over and rests his head in her lap, feeling the warmth of her fingers as she strokes his cheeks and hair gently.

And he relaxes into her touch.

-

Juanita lays down on the grass with Miguel next to her, listening as he tell her all the things that made him magic.

“So then they sent me home and I got to sing to Mamá Coco, and she died but that’s okay cause I still talk to her everyday on Skype well not everyday but I try too!”

Its unbelievable. Completely and totally far fetched. But she believes him, she believes every single word that comes out of his mouth because Miguel is the most wonderful boy she’s ever met.

Normally, she couldn’t indulge herself with such thoughts of boys, most of them just looked at her with pity, but Miguel, he was much different than anyone else. He was special.

“And then I talked to them so much the laptop got cursed! It holds memories and not like memory memory like memories stuff you can remember and-“ she can hear him roll over to face her. “And you wanna know what I read?”

Junita shakes her head no. Anything to hear his voice keep going.

“Blind people can see through cursed objects! So like I just see them through the screen, but you can actually see through them! So when you touched the laptop you brought us here! Pretty cool huh?”

Juanita nods. Thought she wasn’t quite sure where “here” was. A memory probably, but whose memory she wasn’t sure.

”And that’s my Papa Héctor, and that’s my Mama Imedla. They’re like super in love in all of their memories. Well, except for the ones where she hates him but that’s after he’s dead. But don’t worry, they can’t see or hear us so-“

She lazily rolls over while he speaks, and lays her head on his chest. He’s so comfy, she wraps her arms around him in a tight hug and cuddles in his neck like a pillow. Miguel squeaks.

She knows he’s a bit nervous.

-

Imedla picks flowers from the bushes and grass on their walks, and carries them in her little basket that he knows for a fact Anita Garcia weaved. He watched with interest as she skillfully weaves the stems together, creating a delicate crown of flowers. She smirks, and plops the crown on his head. “There, finished.”

He grins up at her from his place in he lap. “How do I look? Muy hermosa no?”

”Like una princesa.” She smiles, and leans down to kiss his nose. He leans up to meet her, only the flower crown slips and covers his face in leaves. “Oye!” He grimaces, and attempts to shake the crown off. “Imedla!”

She laughs and gently removes the crown, taking pleasure in watching him spit out spare petals. ”You bobo.” She says affectionally, and kisses his cheek. Imelda is really the only person who can say an insult so lovingly.

He shakes his head, but wraps his arms around her nevertheless, and she tiredly lays a her head on his shoulder, her hands moving back on repairing what remained of the crown. His hands move to his pocket, where the tiny ring (that costed a good two weeks salary) lay. He really hopes ~~he actually uses it this time~~ , she says yes.

“Look,” she points. “The sunset.” The very sunset he planned to propose to her in front of.

He gulps and squeezes Imelda a bit tighter.

And his sweaty hand clamps around the ring inside his pocket.

-

“Do you think we’ll ever get married? Cause I think we could, like, when we’re old and stuff.”

Junita smiles and spreads her hand out, tapping her finger right where the ring would be and giving him a nod yes.

“Oh cool, cause I don’t think I wanna marry somebody else.”

Juanita shakes her head in agreement. It would be nice to marry Miguel. Then she could live with him, and hold his hand, and he would play music for her everyday. And they could have a big wedding with lots of cake and presents.

And then he’d have to kiss her because that’s what people did at weddings. It was the rules after all.

”Does that make you my girlfriend?” He asks, sounding hopeful. “Cause I think it does.”

Does it? She’s not sure, but she nods her head yes anyway. Miguel sounds relived. “Cool.”

She smiles wide, and cuddles deeper into his sweater, cause now Miguel is her boyfriend, which means they’re basically married, and cuddling was just the kind of stuff married people did. According to her older sister anyway, who was in 12th grade and therefore knew basically everything.

“Do you think your parents will like me?”

Its a random question. But she guesses they would. After all, Papa liked to play music on his guitar, and Miguel was like the best musican in the history of ever. And Mama would, becuse she had once said that Miguel “was such a sweet boy.”

She nods her head yes, and Miguel sounds relieved again. “Good cause Mama Imelda didn’t like Coco’s first boyfriend, and Coco says she hit him with a shoe.” Juanita giggles.

Suddenly the woman, Miguel’s grandmother, says “Look, the sunset.”, and Juanita feels her heart leap.

The Sunset! Just like Miguel promised!

She eagerly sits up, and she holds Miguel’s-her _boyfriend’s_ \- hand tightly in anticipation.

Suddenly, her dark world gets lighter and lighter, until everything is filled with a light that’s warm, and comforting, and decorated with strange hues of lights she can’t recognize. Oh they were colors! Bright and beautiful colors!

Excited, jumps and laughs and twirls around in her place, making Miguel laugh. The whole sky is filled with beautiful hues of light, so bright Juanita would be scared she’d go blind if she wasn’t already. Everything is still blurry but that’s fine, Miguel’s face is darker then the sky, but she loves it all the same.

In her excitement she takes both of his cheeks and squishes is face and gives him a big sloppy kiss. And at first she’s oh so embrrassed because she’s never kissed anybody but then Miguel lets out a loud grito, “ _aaaaarrriiiiayye_!”, that makes her so happy and he spins her around because he’s happy too!

In the background, (she can faintly see the two blurs of people) she hears, “I-Imelda, there, ah, comes a time, in, when, every mans life, when, oh oh hold on I-, oh my goodness I forget, I- my alma I had, oh hold on, just-“

”Héctor-“

”Don’t rush me!” The man cries, his voice raising an octave. He seems awful nervous. Juanita tries to see his face, but the blurriness and brightness of all the colores are staring to hurt her eyes. She closed them for a moment.

”I-I wasn’t I-“

The man shifts somehow, and for some reason the woman gasps. “Héctor!”

”Imelda Inez Guadalupe Rivera. Will you do me the honor of- _oh díos míos_ Imelda will you marry me?”

”Si!” The woman squeals, and tackles the man so they both fall to the groud. And the man asks excitedly, “Really?” And the woman answers “of course really!” And just like Miguel he lets out a huge proud grito that vibrates through the air.

Miguel really is his great great grandson.

“I’m getting married! Arrrrreyhaye!” He cries, and the woman laughs and cheers. “I’m marring you!”

And when Miguel sqeeezies her hand she nearly cries because all the happiness is contagious and she’s so happy. Color. She’s seen color. And next to her Miguel it’s the second most beautiful thing in the whole wide world.

“Oh Héctor, I love you so much.”

”Te amo mucho, mi vida.”

Miguel takes her in his arms and holds her there, until the whole world turns dark again, and the breeze is gone, and she can feel her knees laying back on the same hardwood floor she left behind.

And she sobs. For whatever reason she’s not sure of.

Color was such a beautiful thing.

She supposes sometimes it’s just a bit much.

-

Enrique walks beside the two, watching closley as his son and Juanita walked home hand in hand. The two were a little couple now, and he had to admit were quite adorable together. Still, Enrique internally sighs, because just when did Miguel get so big?

When they finally arrive at Juanita’s home, Miguel doesn’t wanna let go.

”You have to promise to come again Juanita.” he tells her “My abuelita can make all kinds of stuff! Do you like tamales? Because she can make the best tamales.”

Junita smiles, showing off her fancy metal braces, and nods. She opens her arms wide for a hug, and his son quickly takes the invitation, moving in and wrapping his arms around Juanita. They hug tightly and she hums, buring her face in the crook of his neck.

Enrique awkwardly looks away, and takes a good look at Juanita’s home, which quite frankly is huge. In fact, it’s much bigger then double his home and his shoe shop combined. How his son managed to get involved with such an affluent girl he’ll never know.

Suddenly, the door opens, and what may be the largest man Enrique has ever seen steps out from inside. Junita’s face lights up at the sound, and she breaks the hug and runs to greet the man at the door. He guesses the huge man must be her father, because he smiles just as wide and scoops up the young girl into his arms, making Juanita giggle.

Enrique still can’t help but marvel about just how large this man was. He could probably snap Juanita in half like a toothpick if he wanted to. He was one-hundred percent full muscle.

Miguel watches the scene with wide eyes. “El-El Muerto?”

And that’s when it all clicks for Enrique, the fancy house, the large figure...Junitas father must be a luchador!

The luchador grins. “Ah so you know me?”

Miguel nods numbly, and Enrique notices he’s shaking a bit. “I-I watched you on...on la televisón, you-you’re my favorite wrestler.”

“Ah.” El Muerto smiles. “Well, it’s always nice to meet a fan kid.”

”M-Miguel, my name is Miguel.”

Juanita suddenly starts jumping up and down, tugging at her fathers arm and pointing at her boyfriend. The father nods and turns back to him, and all of a sudden Enrique is quite concerned for his sons health. “So,” the luchador starts, grinning. “You’re _that_ Miguel.”

“Um...I think so?”

El Muerto chuckles. “Guess I’ll be seeing you around huh?”

Miguel gives a nervous smiles, and nods. “Y-Yeah I hope so.”

Finally the large luchador turns to him. “You’re his father?”

Enrique blinks, getting himself out of the small trance he was in. He forces himself to smile and politely he nods. “Si, Enrique Rivera señor.”

”Diego Vasquez.” El Muerto nods back. “My wife likes your shoes. Says there a good brand.”

“Well, they are the best shoes in Mexico! I’d say that’s a good brand!”

Digeo chuckles. “Yeah, well, say g’night Juanita.”

Juanita waves eagerly to Miguel, who yells “adios!”, and Enrique is about to wave until he realizes the poor girl is blind and couldn’t see him anyway. “A-adios Juanita.” He tells her instead. “Y buenos noches señor.”

Diego nods. “Buenos noches” and closes the door.

Enrique internally sighs again.

He knew his son was too young for girls.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don’t you hate it when your girlfriend’s dad turns out to be a Mexican pro-wrestler.


	7. Promise?

Miguel didn’t really hate school, he just thought it was a lot longer then it needed to be.

He looked at the clock for the third time in the past hour, and the time read 2:40...which meant only ten more minutes left!

He grinned, and bounced his leg rapidly from his seat. The sooner he got out of school the sooner he could do his homework. And the sooner he did that the sooner he could talk to Papa Héctor!

And sometimes Tía Victoria would help him with his math homework because while he loved Papa Héctor, the man was just no good with numbers.

“ _Well that is just crazy!”_ He would huff. “ _When I was alive, there were no letters in math! Math and English were to separate subjects!”_

_“They’re variables Abuelo.”_

_“I know a letter when I see one Victoria.”_

Miguel giggled. Papa Héctor was only good in music class.

“Pssst Miguel!”

Miguel turned around, seeing Josefina Gonzales behind him. She “ _pssst_ ”ed again, and lifted up a crumbled piece of paper. “Take it.”

Miguel raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Just do it Miguel.”

He blinked but nevertheless took the paper and folded it out in his lap. He never really got the obsession his classmates had with passing notes, after all, there were only ten min-

Oh the note was from Juanita!

He eagerly read over the whole thing which read: “ **Miguel, do you want to meet at the hill that’s behind the cemetery after school? Let me know.”**

**-Love, Juanita. XOXO”**

Miguel grinned widely and stuffed the note in his pocket. That was totally a date!

Then maybe after the hill, they could go for ice cream! And then she could come his house! And they could visit another memory!

He turned around quickly, and gave Josefina Gonzales a bright smile. “Gracias Josefina!”

She smiled back, seeming happy for him. Which was really nice.

Miguel guessed it was just one of those days where everyone was happy.

-

Rosa laid her head in Esteban’s lap, feeling soft feeling of his fingers brushing through her hair. Over the course of their dating, the hill behind the cemetery had become their secret place, a place of romance, a place where no one would-

“Isn’t that funny Juanita?”

Oh. Oh no. 

“Papa Héctor said he couldn’t get the smell out for a week! What did it smell like? Oh, farts I guess.”

 Oh no no no no. 

Maybe he didn’t see her. Maybe he isn’t see-

“Oh hey is that Rosa?”

Oh! Did her stupid litttle cousin have to ruin everything?!

Rosa shot up from Esteban’s lap, the rage of having her own secret place destroyed flaming in her chest. One thing! That twit couldn’t even let her have this one special place and it was so unfair and everything was so unfair and if he blabbed about Esteban she was gonna shove his fat little head in the toilet-

Esteban stood up, placing a calming hand on her shoulder. “What’s wrong princesa?”

” _Princesa?!”_

Miguel’s stupid mocking voice echoed, along with some quiet snickering from Juanita. Which just wasn’t fair, because ever since they started dating Juanita had became a complete carbon copy of Miguel, making every argument two against one. 

“Did he just call you princesa?”

Taking a deep breath (don’t slap him, _don’t_ slap him, you’ll get in trouble) she spins around on her heel, and sternly crosses her arms at him. “For you’re information, I happen to like it when he calls me that,  _Miguel.”_

Miguel’s grin only widens. “Do you, _princesa_?”, and Juanita snickers again. 

“Oh shut up.”

Esteban steps forward and wraps a comforting arm around her waist, whispering calming things while pulling her closer to his chest. And despite herself, Rosa internally swoons. What a handsome romantic.  

Now she didn’t like her boyfriend _just_ because he was handsome but....it certainly helped. 

“Can you maybe give us some privacy, Miguel?”

“Of course.” Miguel grins and takes Junita’s hand in his own. “Would you like to take the carriage this evening, mi princesa?”, he mocks, and plants a kiss on her hand, making Juanita blush red and giggle at him, giving a little curtsie. 

Ugh. Rosa rolls her eyes. What a bunch of hams.

Esteban chuckles and leans over to kisses her cheek. Miguel makes a sick face and noise that she guesses was supposed to be a fake vomit, and just to annoy him further she pulls Esteban’s collar down and kisses him passionately on the lips. Miguel gasps and comically shouts “Juanita cover your eyes!”, and despite being completely blind Juanita does it anyway. 

She rolls her eyes once she pulls away.

“Oh c’mon, you guys kiss each other don’t you?”

“Yeah! Just...not infront of other people!”

Rosa smirks, slowly pulling Esteban closer. “Well then you better get going before we kiss again-”

”We’re leaving!”

Esteban laughs as the two run off, and Rosa snuggles into him and calls “Don’t tell anybody we were here!”

And Miguel calls back “we won’t!”, even though she knows he totally will. 

And she hates him for it. She really hates him.

Enough to love him like crazy.

-

Miguel held Juanita’s hand as the two of them walked up the hill, telling Juanita stories the whole way up. Juanita giggled a lot at them, which was good, because Papa Héctor had said if girls giggle a lot that meant they liked you.

“ _Belive it or not chamaco, Imelda didn’t fall for me just because of my dashing good looks alone. I had to use some of my intelligence, humor, and natural charm! Which has all been passed down to you. No need to thank me.”_

_“Intelligence? You threw rocks at my window and broke it.”_

_”I was trying to get your attention for a serenade!”_

_“It wasn’t even my window, it was Felipe’s.”_

_“Oh well excuse me for trying to be romantic.”_

Miguel hoped he could be like Mama Imelda and Papa Héctor one day, maybe when him and Juanita were all old and wrinkley and gross but still loved each other anyway.

Juanita tugs at his arms, and holds up her little notepad she likes to keep. “ **Can we get married on a beach?”**

“Sure.” He smiles, and shrugged his arms. He didn’t really mind where they got married, just as long as his whole family was invited and it wasn’t like, twenty hours long. Those long weddings were boring.

Juanita smiles, and the scribbles again. “ **Do you wanna sing a song for it?”**

“Oh yeah!” Miguel’s eyes lit up at the idea. He could make a whole new song just for their wedding, and then sing to everyone! Papa Héctor would be so proud! “That would be great!”

Juanita smiled brightly. “ **Good! Because you’re songs are the best!”**

Miguel laughed. There was no doubt that Juanita was his biggest fan. She swooned over every song he sung, every note he played, and even during class presentations she would clap for him the loudest.

And while he still hates de la Cruz with a burning passion, he sorta understands now, there was an addiction in having someone love you so much. An addiction in being loved.

And Miguel would never, ever hurt Juanita. And Miguel would never ever become de la Cruz. So, he figured, what was the harm in indulging his ego?...just a little bit?

”Juanita?”

Juanita turns and smiles at him, and- just right then- she looked so pretty. With big brown eyes and shiny black hair framing her face... She deserved a whole billion songs if you asked him, and as her best friend in the whole wide world he’d give it to her.

“ _Let me tell you something Miguel.“_

He wants to tell her a bunch of things. That he’s going to grow up to be a very famous musician. That he’s going to write a bunch of songs and make a lot of money. And that she can come with him, that he wants her to come with him. That they’re going to travel the world and that they’re going to be married and happy all the time because he can buy them a great big house and she can wear pretty dresses and pretty shoes and-

_“I got married. In 1917.”_

And every day they could dance and sing songs-

“ _Four people showed up. One of which was the priest.”_

They could get married in a big sandy beach if they wanted to. Whever she wanted to go-

“ _Imelda was pregnant so she couldn’t drink-eh? Yes with Coco.”_

“ _Anyway Ernesto was drunk and Imelda’s brothers just cried the whole time-”_

Juanita liked to hear him sing.

And he liked to feel the soft weight of her head on his shoulder.

_”It was nice still. I loved her.”_

“ _When Imelda went into labor I was so nervous, all I could think about was “that poor baby might get my nose.” And she didn’t, thank goodness. Coco was the most beautiful little baby...oh she just fit...in the palm of my hand, she fit just right...“_

And he liked the feeling her her hand in his. And he liked thinking about getting married and he liked it when she smiled and he liked it when she kissed him and he liked it when she told him he was the best musician in the whole wide world. 

“ _You know I thought her first word was going to be Papa. It was ‘uh-oh’. Imelda said it was because I was so clumsy and tripped over everything and all she saw were_ _‘uh-oh’s. Ernesto said it was because she was an ‘uh-oh’._

 _He was her godfather you know...my best friend.”_  

He liked _her_. 

“ _Oh Miguel I- I don’t know why I left. I do know why, but I-..._ _I never got to see my daughter grow up-”_

 _“_ Juanita?”

 _“Promise me Miguel_ , _when you find something you love-“_

Juanita smiled at him, as if to say “yes?”, and with those big brown eyes somthing inside of him stirred. Maybe he was growing older, maybe he was understanding. Maybe he was growing older and younger all at the same time.

“- _promise me you’ll hold it Miguel.”_

 _Be brave._ He was brave. He was the bravest kid he knew. He fought skeletons and rode jaguars! Of course he was brave.

” _Promise me you’ll hold it tight.”_

So why couldn’t he just-

“ _Hold it close and tight okay?”_

_” **Okay**.”_

_”You promise?”_

“ _ **I promise Papa.”**_

He _promised._

And with that final thought, he gathered every ounce of bravery he had and wheeled in and kissed her.

Not on the cheek like mama did, or on the forehead like Papa, but right on the lips, like Rosa and Esteban. He kissed her, best he could. 

And to his hearts delight. 

She kissed him back.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Esteban had like one line. 
> 
> Also little Miguel is growing up...but will forever be addressed as chamaco.
> 
> Also also is there anything you wanna see cause there is a lot of room in this fic.


End file.
